Football Fever

We are sports family, no doubt, and it is always exciting when the football season begins, especially for Tim. While I will be the first to admit that I am ready for it to be over in February, I too enjoy the new seasons. Our favorite teams to cheer on are the Wisconsin Badgers, the Green Bay Packers and of course our alma mater, the WIU Leathernecks. Within the first few weeks, we had celebrated each of these teams.

Early in the Badger season, we headed up to Kyle & Nikki's so the four of us could go to Camp Randall and cheer on Wisconsin. Tim became friends with a season ticket holder after going to the Rose Bowl in January and she hooked us up with some tickets. It was a warm day in Madison, but we had tons of fun! Here are the four of us cheering "On Wisconsin!"

We also, of course, root for the Green Bay Packers. We didn't get a chance to cheer them on in person, but got a nice family picture of Tim, Hannah & Cameron all sporting their green and gold.

Finally, we made our annual trip to Macomb to meet up with our great college friends for WIU Homecoming. What a great weekend as always! This year, we stayed out at the Christian camp that some of our friends grew up at and stayed up way too late talking! The next day, our celebration continued with the homecoming parade, the football game, and eating at two of our favorite places. Here we are with some of our favorite people!

My Brubba!

As Cameron continues to develop his little personality and gets a little older, it has been really fun watching Hannah interact with him. When he first started being able to sit up and "play" with her she exclamied, "Mommy, my brubba play with me!" While I know this excitement won't last forever, especially as Cameron playing means wanting Hannah's toys, I love watching my baby girl become a great big sister and completely love on her "brubba."

Apple's for All

Today, we all had the day off! Tim has recently gotten a new job and will have to work some weekends. But, since it's Labor Day, we are all home. And, the weather has finally broken! So what better to do on a day off with perfect weather than to go to our local orchard, Eckert's. As soon as we told Hannah that we were going apple picking, she just kept saying, "Mommy, apples!" When we got to Eckert's, we started with a trip to the orchard to pick our own apples. As we were walking toward the tractor, we had the added bonus of running into my cousin, Liz, and her family from Harrisburg! It was so fun to visit for a bit while we were picking apples. Hannah had so much fun, even though she dropped a few while trying to reach for them. We even had a couple while we were walking around. Cam, on the other hand, enjoyed hanging out in the sling and walking around with Mommy. He was super content all day and loved being outside in the beautiful weather! After picking, we bought some apple goodies from the Country Store. I am so excited to have fresh apple crisp this week, some red hot stewed apples and fresh apple cider -- my favorite fall foods! After shopping, we had lunch at the cafe. It was delicious! It was truly the most perfect fall, family day. We are looking forward to more fall activites over the next few months!

Hannah ready for Mommy to put the apples in her bag -- Cam hanging out!

"Apples, myself, Mommy!"

Yummy apples!

Our Family at Eckert's -- September 2011

Five Months of Fun

Our big boy is 5 months today! This has been another super fun month. Cameron's personality continues to come through. He is so laid back and go-with-the-flow and such a happy baby! He loves to laugh -- especially at his big sister. It is so fun to watch the continued interactions between the two. Once Hannah realizes she is making Cam laugh, she hams it up even more! Her favorite way to get him going is by jumping off of things -- and the higher the better. Cameron continues to be a great sleeper and is really settling into a good schedule with naps and nighttime sleep. He also LOVES to eat! His favorite foods right now are any fruits and orange veggies. He wasn't too keen on green veggies at first, but he slowly is getting better with them. Another new development this week is that he is rolling both ways now! He's been doing front to back for quite sometime, and just a couple of weeks ago figured out how to get all the way from his back to his tummy. We find him this way most mornings when we get him up. We also have a first-class drooler on our hands. I think he could cut teeth at any time, so we are just waiting to see when it will happen. We have had a great month with our son! Can't wait for the next one!

This is what happens....

when Bruba is sleeping and Mommy is trying to clean!

As I was trying to pick up a little, Hannah got out her markers and coloring books and went to town. Then proceeded to give herself some "tattoos." I turn around and she yells, "Mommy....Wook!" Oh, boy! I love our artistic little girl!

Back to Reality

After an extended summer break (I've been home since Cameron's court date), it's time to head back to school. We have had such a wonderful summer and I couldn't have asked it to be any better. For the last few weeks, I've been going up to school a couple of days to get my classroom ready and prepare myself for the year. The kids went to Ms. Sarah's so I could work without distraction. It was good for me and especially to start easing them back into the school routine. I always get excited to start a new year. Here our my own kids posing with mom as we start another year.

Mascoutah Homecoming

Every year, Mascoutah has a Homecoming celebration which includes rides, foods, parades and so much more. Last year, we just stuck to the parades, but we decided to also try the rides this year. Since doing rides is much more fun with friends, we asked if my good friend, Melissa, and her son Jackson (Hannah and Jackson are the same age and go to the sitter together) to go with us. Here are the kids on a "date" to the Homecoming. It was extremely hot that afternoon and we didn't last too long, but the kids did get go on a few rides. Here are Hannah and Jackson driving some cars. Jackson wasn't super fond of the rides, but he did start to like this one a little.

That night we went up town to watch the parade. There were a lot of people, tractors, and candy! it didn't take Hannah too long to figure out how to get candy when people threw it. It was a fun evening and the Casey family enjoyed another Mascoutah Homecoming!